Digitalisation of land titles to cost Shs25 billion

Mukono. The Land Information Systems (LIS) established in 2003 to digitalise land titles, will cost $1 million (about Shs25 billion), a Ministry of Lands official has said.Mr Robert Mbaziira said the money will be used to procure equipment, map lands and registering titles, educate communities, district employees and open zonal offices across the country.

“We are doing this in phases. Government recognised the challenges of land management in the country and we got a loan of $1million from the World Bank for this exercise,” Mr Mbaziira said, during the ministry’s community sensitisation workshop in Mukono District recently.

Digitalisation of titles seeks to avoid multiple land grabbing and forgeries, fasten land registration and avoid multiple ownership of a plot among others.Mr Mathias Kigongo, the Buikwe District chairperson, said government officials are puzzled on how to manage land matters, especially after President Museveni agreed to return Buganda land where most government offices are located.

Ms Louella Ataro, the Mukono District land registrar, said the zonal office will only issue land titles after verifying minutes of ownership from the district land boards.

Mr Dennis Obbo, the Ministry of Lands spokesperson, called for the continuous updating of LIS and training of workers for better service delivery.

THE effortsSince 2010 when the digitalisation exercise commenced, 500,000 titles, mainly in urban areas of Jinja, Mukono, Wakiso, Arua and Masindi have been digitalised,13 zonal offices established and nine others are yet to be opened.